This is the fourth day of the second fortnight of the Hindu Calendar Month. On this day a special significance is to the sighting of the Moon.

The pujas, from Sunrise, are as per Tuesday but in the evening the temple closes about 1 1/2 hour prior to moon rise and Shodashopchar Pooja is performed on Shree Siddhivinayak and an Abhishek of Milk and Rose Water on Shree Siddhivinayak goes on while a team of priests recite various Vedic Mantras and Prayers.

A Naivedya comprising of Steamed Modaks and other eatables is then offered to Shree Siddhivinayak and following the same is the Aarti Mantra Pushpanjali. After this the temple is again open to devotees and Shejaarti is performed only after the crowd subsides.

When

When the fourth day of the second fortnight of a Hindu Calendar Month falls on a Tuesday it is knows as Agariki Sankashti Chaturthi.

It is a special day for the devotees of Shree Siddhivinayak and the preparations for this day begin well in advance. The devotees thronging the temple on this day are innumerable and Darshan from within the Gabhara begins at 1.30 a.m. Tuesday morning and continues uninterrupted (barring the morning Aarti and evening Mahapuja and Aarti) till about 2.00 a.m. Wednesday morning. The temple trust makes arrangement of Close Circuit Television to facilitate lakhs of people to get Darshan of Shree Siddhivinayak without stepping into the temple.

The common Darshan on Agariki Sankashti Chaturthi Day begins at 2.00 a.m. Tuesday morning and continuous till about 1.00 a.m. Wednesday morning. It is impossible to estimate the total number of people who obtain Darshan of Shree Siddhivinayak on this day. The Mahapuja and Abhishek which is carried out is like other Sankashti Chaturthi days. Also performed is a Sahastravartan (i.e. 1000 recitations of Atharva Sheersha) under the auspices of the temple trust. This is done at about 6.30 a.m. and is conducted from the mezzanine gallery from where other pujas are also carried out till about 1.00 p.m. after which the gallery is used for common Darshan. On this day again the temple only closes after the last of the Devotees has been able to seek Darshan of Shree Siddhivinayak.

LEGEND

Long long ago there lived a sage called Bhrushundi. (Sage Bhrushundi did penance for many years of Lord Ganesha and became great among the devotees of Lord Ganesha. While doing penance a trunk immerged from his nose, that is why he has been called as Bhrushundi. Everyone use to see him to get virtue.)

Once God Indra's plane on his way back to home from sage Bhrushundi, was going above king Shursen's kingdom. One person(who has done many sins in his life) saw the plane of God Indra in the sky. With his look the plane landed on the ground. By seeing the brightness of the plane, king went to see the plane and person travelling in the plane. By seeing God Indra king was very much pleased and he saluted God Indra and ask about the landing of the plane. God Indra told him that a sinner from your city looked at the plane, because of his sins the plane came down. By hearing the noise of the plane, everyone from the city came to see the plane.

All people worshipped God Indra. King asked God Indra how the plane could start again? God Indra told him that today is Panchami from the month of the Paush. Yesterday was the Chaturthi. Check whether anyone done fasting yesterday. If that person gives his virtue to me then my plane will start. Soldiers searched the city for the person who did fasting on Chaturthi. but unfortunately they found no one. At the same time some soldiers saw Ganesh-Duta (a soldier of Lord Ganesha) who is taking away a woman died recently. Soldiers asked him that how can you take such a sinner to Ganesh-loka. Ganesh-Duta told soldiers that yesterday whole day that woman was in sleep. She has not eaten anything. Late night after moonrise she woke up and eat some food. Without her knowledge she did Sankashti-Chaturthi. She died today.

A person who does Sankashti-Chaturthi even once in the life, after death goes to Ganesh-loka or Swananda-loka. Soldiers requested Ganesh-Duta to give that woman to them so that the plane of could start. But Ganesh-Duta refused to give virtue of that woman to soldiers. The wind which flown from the dead woman's body went till God Indra's plane and with the wind it could start the plane. It means that the wind which touched that virtuous body also become virtuous.

The person who does Sankashti-Chaturthi (do fasting till the moonrise and then eat the food) will collect lot of virtues. After the death that person goes to Swanand-loka and the rebirth of that person stops.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana contain descriptions of Ganesha flanked by Siddhi and Buddhi. In these two Puranas they appear as an intrinsic part of Ganapati and according to Thapan do not require any special rituals associated with shakti worship. In Chapter I.18.24-39 of the Ganesha Purana, Brahmā performs worship in honor of Ganesha, and during it Ganesha himself causes Buddhi and Siddhi to appear so that Brahmā can offer them back to Ganesha. Ganesha accepts them as offerings. In Ganesha Purana I.65.10-12 there is a variant of this incident, in which various gods are giving presents to Ganesha, but in this case Siddhi and Buddhi are born from Brahmā's mind and are given by Brahmā to Ganesha.

The Ganesha Temple at Morgaon is the central shrine for the regional aṣṭavināyaka complex. The most sacred area within the Moragaon temple is the sanctum (garbhagŗha), a small enclosure containing an image of Ganesha. To the right and left sides of the image stand Siddhi and Buddhi. In northern India the two female figures are said to be Siddhi and Riddhi. There is no Purāṇic evidence for the pair, but the pairing parallels those of Buddhi and Siddhi in Shiva Purana and Riddhi and Buddhi from Matsya Purana

As Ganesha had an elephant-head no girl was ready to marry him. While all other gods had a consort he did not have one and this angered Ganesha. He started creating problems in the marriages of Devas (demigods). He asked rats to dig up holes on the path through which wedding procession of any Deva would go to the bride’s house. The Devas faced innumerable problems in their weddings. Fed up with the activities of Ganesha, the Devas complained to Brahma, who agreed to solve the problem. To please Ganesha, Brahma(Prajapati)created two beautiful women named Riddhi (wealth and prosperity) and Siddhi (intellectual and spiritual powers). Brahma gave them in marriage to Ganesha.From that day onwards whoever pleases Ganesha also gets the blessings of Siddhi and Riddhi.

Difference

The Riddhi Shakti is known as the left Energy channel (Nadi) or the Moon Channel of Sri Ganeshji. Siddhi Shakti is known as the right Energy channel (Nadi) or the Sun Channel of Sri Ganeshji.One comes to know about the objective of the desire through the Riddhi Shakti. Through Siddhi Shakti the objective is fulfilled.The Riddhi Shakti complements the mission indirectly. Siddhi Shakti directly provides strength to the mission.Riddhi Shakti works at a Nirgun(FormLess)level. Siddhi Shakti works at a Sagun(FormFull) level.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

5-day festival from December 21-25 of every year, invokes the colours of Lord Ganesha’s 5 shaktis (powers). A shrine is to be created in the main living room, which would contain a large statue or picture of Ganesha, and decorated with banana leaves, pine cones, tinsel, etc. Then, on each of the days, children are invited to decorate Ganesha in the colour as below and the family is to focus on a special sadhana (spiritual discipline).

Day 1 | Yellow: Love and harmony among immediate family members
Day 2 | Blue: Love and harmony among neighbors, relatives and close friends
Day 3 | Red: Love and harmony among business associates and the public at large
Day 4 | Green: Invoke the joy and harmony that comes from music, art, drama and dance
Day 5 | Orange: Invoke the love and harmony in all three worlds (presumably the heavens, earth and the underworld)

Saturday, August 16, 2014

There’s another story which depicts Ganesha as her creation. Under this Puranic legend, Goddess Parvati longed for a child and conveyed the same to Lord Shiva, who asked her to undertake the Punyaka penance. For a year, Goddess Parvati underwent trials and tribulations to test the strength of her vow. She completed each task and thus was granted a boon and was blessed with a son.

Gods and Goddesses from all over came to Mount Kailasa to bless this child. Even the nine planets (grahas) came to greet the divine couple and meet the newly born. One of the grahas, Shani, however refused to look at the child, as he was cursed by his jealous wife that whoever he looked at with admiration would be destroyed. Parvati insisted that Shani looked at her son and when he did, the head of the son got separated from the body.

This created a commotion on Mount Kailasa and Goddess Parvati wailed so loudly that Lord Vishnu came to see what had happened. Upon seeing the headless child, He flew off on Garuda, his vahana, to search for a head to replace the lost one. He found a herd of elephants sleeping on the banks of the river Pushpabhadra and chose one whose head was facing the north. This head of the elephant was placed on the boy, who was given life again by Vishnu. Lord Vishnu also gave him eight names, one of them was Ganesha.